War on Acne
by ChibiFrubaGirl
Summary: [Axel x Riku] Riku's got a pimple the day of his first date with Axel. He goes to Kairi and Marluxia for help... What could go wrong? [Happy Birthday Mr. Harlequin!]


**Pre-Author's Note:** Happy Birthday Mr. Harlequin:D You better enjoy this! You have Jane to thank for making me start on it earlier than planned.

**Disclaimer:** HEY, HEY!!! YOU, YOU!!! I COULD BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!!

---

"_Hey, hey! You, you! I don't like your girlfriend! No way, no way! I think you need a new one! Hey, hey! You, you! I could be your girlfriend!!!"_

Riku cringed and promptly hurled his alarm clock across the room. He had chosen that song particularly because it was just so damn annoying it was bound to wake him up without failure. Needless to say, he was deeply regretting that decision now.

Rubbing his eyes as he sat up in bed, Riku groaned. Blinking blearily at the sunlight streaming through his window. _Curse the sun. Curse it all. _Dazedly Riku tried to drift back off to sleep, all to no avail, he was officially awake. After several more attempts at sleep, Riku finally accepted the fact that staying awake was inevitable.

_Crap._

Sighing wearily, Riku threw aside his blanket and swung his legs over the side of his bed. Black sweat pants instantly brushed against the floor as Riku shuffled sleepily over to the bathroom across the hall; rubbing his eyes and yawning adorably.

"Marluxia!" hollered Riku, banging his fists on the bathroom door, "Get out! I need to shower!"

"Just a second!" the sing song voice of Riku's older brother echoed though the bathroom door. Seconds later, the sound of Marluxia singing in the shower reached Riku's ears, infuriating the silver haired teen. Riku's eyes steeled.

"Open up, dammit! Why can't you just take a fast shower for ONCE?! Come ON!" he wailed as he slammed himself against the door. Riku's mother, Rinoa, peered up at Riku from the foot of the stairs that lead to the second floor, where the bathroom was located.

"No swearing in the house, please," she admonished cheerfully, a basket of laundry in her arms. Riku grunted.

Crossing his arms huffily, Riku stood rigidly outside of the bathroom door. Today was supposed to be a good day. No. Scratch that. Today was supposed to be a _great_ day. Today was Riku's first date with Axel. Riku smiled to himself dreamily as his mind drifted back to the moment Axel had asked him out right outside of their drama class. Riku had nearly melted…

Well… Maybe it hadn't been _that_ sweet. But all the same, Riku had learned a long time ago, that when it came to snagging a boyfriend you had to take what you could get… Though it would've been nicer if Axel had offered him some flowers as a token of his adoration… Or maybe said something really heartfelt. But nooooo, all he'd said was:  
_"Hey, Riku? You free this Saturday? I wanna see a movie with you."_

Pish.

Riku had of course nervously stuttered out his response, and then spent the rest of the week freaking out about what they would talk about, what they would eat, what movie Axel would pick, if they would go anywhere afterwards, and of course, most importantly, what he should wear… Riku basically rambled on and on about those exact "major" problems to anyone who would listen (a.k.a. the people who had no choice BUT to listen).

When he told people how Axel had asked him out, most of them voiced their concern that it sounded like Axel wasn't taking the date as seriously as Riku. And maybe Riku should calm down a bit, otherwise he'd probably come off as overenthusiastic.

But Riku just couldn't help it. Sora thought Riku was acting stupid and girly. Kairi said it was cute how worked up he was getting.

_It's not my fault I'm so happy, _thought Riku, giddily, _Axel is just so… so…_

"Hey, drama-queen. Stop imagining Axel without a shirt on."

_And shirtless Axel is even better… Yeah… Shirtless…_

"Riku! Oi, you alive over there?"

The next thing Riku felt was someone tapping him upside the head.

He blinked.

"Marluxia!" he whined, hands balling up into stubborn fists.

"Hey, it's not my fault you were spacing out, princess," said Marluxia, shrugging off Riku's indignation and brushing past Riku as he marched to his room, "the shower is yours."

Riku scoffed and proceeded into the bathroom; where he took extra care to make sure he looked great. He used the bottle of shampoo he had labeled "sacred" as it was a rather expensive brand and he only used it for very, very special occasions. Once he had gotten through his usual morning ritual he headed over to the mirror above the sink to dry and comb his hair.

When he first looked in the mirror he frowned at what he saw, and quickly tried wiping the fog off the glass; thinking his reflected image was just blurred by the fogginess.

When the mirror was finally much clearer Riku leaned forward and squinted at his face.

…

…

_**"HOLY CRAP! THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY THIS IS HAPPENING!!!"**_

---

Marluxia looked up from the pages of his tabloid rich magazine, startled. Tearing his eyes away from a picture of Paris Hilton sobbing in the backseat of her car he turned his attention to the bathroom.

"Riku?" he called uncertainly, "You okay in there?"

In answer to Marluxia's question, Riku came flying out of the bathroom and rushed straight into his room, where he promptly collapsed on the bed in a heap of tears. In short, he was a mess.

"Riku?" asked Marluxia tentatively as he stepped into his little brother's room, concern now evident in the pink haired man's voice, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I-…" Riku choked on his tears and sniveled for a little bit as he tried to properly form the words, "I-… I have a… _pimple_," he whispered the last word like it was some sort of wretched curse. As soon as the words left his mouth a fresh wave of tears overcame him and he returned his face to his already tear soaked pillow.

It took a moment for Riku's statement to fully lodge in Marluxia's pink head. But when it did he found himself grinning down at Riku's grief stricken form.

Sitting on the edge of Riku's bed Marluxia chided, "Aw, now come on Riku… It can't be that b- OMIGOSH!!!" Marluxia exclaimed as Riku lifted his head.

It was like… A red mountain, with a white snowy summit- No! It was like a volcano spouting white foam. Or maybe a demented geyser of sorts…

In any case, it was huge. Gigantic. Enormous. Ginormous.

Marluxia found himself smirking at Riku's distress.

"Hm," said Marluxia feigning thoughtful, "well now this _is _a problem isn't it? If today was just any other day, I suppose you and your other head," Riku wailed loudly here, "could just hide indoors all day… But wait, today's not just any other day is it? Let's see, what is it you're doing today? Oh that's right! You've got a date today!"  
Riku warbled distortedly as he glared at Marluxia over the top of his pillow.

"Y- You're so mean, Marluxia," mumbled Riku incoherently, seeing as his mouth was speaking into the downy pillow. Marluxia rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, Riku, it's just a pimple," he said, "you've had pimples before haven't you?" Riku just glared.

"Er haven't you?"

More glaring.

"You mean…"

Riku's eyes narrowed.

"You've seriously never..?"

Riku's cheeks puffed indignantly.

"What? But you must've-… Like that time you…" Marluxia's voice trailed off. Now that he really gave it some though, he couldn't remember Riku _ever_ having a pimple. Lucky bastard.

"Alright then," Marluxia gave an exasperated sigh, "what do you want me to do about it?"

"Help me," Riku whined.

"I'll see what I can do…"

---

Riku's lower lip trembled, "I- It's not w- working…"

"I know that," said Marluxia, biting his lip in annoyance, "God that is one stubborn pimple… At this rate the only thing we could do would be to pop it… But I'm worried it'd scar."

Riku whimpered, "I don't want a scar!"

Marluxia heaved a sigh and sat down next to Riku in order to examine the offending mound of pus. He glared at it, all glistening and red, as if trying to will it away. The pimple sat on the top of Riku's nose like a king on his throne would. Marluxia could've sworn it was mocking him.

"I don't know, Riku," said Marluxia, rubbing his eyes, "I can't think of what to do… I mean, it looks like that thing isn't going anywhere for a while."

"But- But I can't show up for Axel with this thing sticking out of my head!" cried Riku in protest; his eyes had widened in horror at the very idea of Axel seeing him like this.

"Well," said Marluxia, getting up and walking out of the bathroom, "there's nothing I can do about it."

He left Riku sitting alone in the bathroom for a few minutes, the silver haired teen scoffed, "Fat lot of help you were," he muttered darkly, "now what am I going to do…?"

---

Riku sprinted to the door as the doorbell rang beckoning him with its call. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he spotted Kairi standing there.

"Hey Riku," said the red headed girl cheerfully, "what's up? You said it was important. What are you doing anyway? I was sure you'd already be getting ready for your date with- What happened to your forehead?!"

Riku hung his head, "Is it… that noticeable?"

"Uh, yeah," said Kairi, still looking thoroughly shaken up. _Since when does Riku get pimples?_

"Great," groaned Riku, he looked at Kairi hopelessly, "What am I going to do? I can't let Axel see me like this! Kairi, help me!" Before his friend could even respond Riku had pulled her into his home and was practically dragging her up the stairs to the bathroom, "Marluxia already tried!"

Kairi furrowed her brow, if Marluxia couldn't do it; it was obvious this pimple wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Okay," she said, steeling herself to wage war, "sit down, I'm going in."

---

Kairi bit her lip, her carefully applied lip gloss already smeared beyond hope from her constantly worrying her lip. She ran a hand through her hair for the twenty sixth time, crease were forming in her forehead.

Finally she let her hands fall to her side hopelessly, and she slumped back into the seat she was using, Riku watched her.

"I don't know what to do!" she cried, throwing her arms up in the air, "This pimple, if you can even call it that, just won't give up!" She shot the red spot on Riku's face a dark look, as if willing it a painful death, "I want to pop it," she whispered, suddenly sounding rather creepy.

Riku, who was sitting on the lid of the toilet seat, scooted backward a little, "No Kairi," he ground out firmly, "I don't want any scarring."

Kairi blinked, shook her head, "Right, sorry, just sorta lost it a little…" She gave the pimple one last look of longing before getting up and beginning to pace to and fro.

"Hm," she was clearly thinking out loud, "well, make up didn't work and acne cream won't be fast enough… I guess the only thing we can do is…" she looked up, a fire blazing in her eyes, "Yes!" she declared loudly, "I didn't want it to come to this… But this is what it's come to! C'mon Riku!" she cried, grabbing Riku by the wrist and pulling him into his room. There was a determination in her every move that Riku had never seen before.

"Um… Kairi?" he asked timidly, "Wh- What exactly are you doing?" Indeed, his feminine friend was now rooting through his closet, tossing his many articles of clothing out so that they landed on the floor behind her.

"Aha!" she cried, as she stood up straight and fixed her rumpled skirt, she waved the article of clothing around in victory, "Perfect!"

Riku blinked. And stared. It was a hat.

But not just _any _hat, oh no, it was a _fishing_ hat. Like the kind that dudes who fish put little hooks on to decorate it? Yeah. And though this one was free of worm guts and lures… It was still a fishing hat. Tan, brown, overall meant for someone else to wear. Not Riku.

"It's… A hat," said Riku blankly.

"_Exactly_," said Kairi looking very proud of herself indeed, "Now, go get ready for your date. I will take care of the pimple once you're all set to go okay?"

"O-… Kay," said Riku dumbly as he head off to do his hair and get dressed. Twenty minutes later, Riku was standing in front of Kairi wearing baggy blue jeans (held up by a studded belt), large sneakers, and a sleeveless, zipper-up shirt that was black. The bottom wasn't completely zipped all the way so a small portion of Riku's toned stomach was showing. (It's basically his KH2 outfit without the vest)

Kairi smiled widely at him and brandished the hat. Riku narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"What? You're not seriously asking me to wear that are you?" he asked incredulously, when her smile widened so did his eyes and he took a step backward out of fear, "Nu-uh, Kairi. No way."

The smile slid off of Kairi's face only to be replaced by a grimace that was really quite threatening, Kairi stepped towards him menacingly. And then, suddenly, without a word, she leaped forward and slapped the hat over his head, pulling I down so far that it covered a good portion of his face.

"There," she said with such finality that Riku wanted to cry, "can you see?"

"Sort of."

"Great!"

"But uh Kairi? Why am I…?"

Kairi rolled her eyes at her friends stupidity, "Put it together Einstein, you have a pimple, I just tugged a hat over your face…"

"Oh!" said Riku, comprehension falling on him, "The hat's covering up the pimple!"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Riku pouted, though it didn't work well considering Kairi couldn't see his eyes, "You don't have to be all mean about it… What time is it anyway?"

"Um," Kairi checked a nearby watch, "Almost Twelve."

"I should probably get going then," said Riku, and the silvered one began walking out of his house, narrowly missing a few walls. When he reached the front door and paused and looked back at Kairi uncertainly, "Listen Kairi, are you sure about this? Don't I look pretty stupid?"

"I'm sure."

---

Axel glanced at the time on his cell phone again, and looked around. Riku still hadn't shown up. Oh well, it wasn't like he was that late. Just… Axel flipped the phone open. _Four minutes and fifteen seconds late… Sixteen seconds… Seventeen seconds…_

Axel shook his head, he was being stupid. Riku would show up. And besides, what was the usually confident red head worrying about? Riku had been walking on air ever since Axel had first asked him out.

There was no way Riku would stand him up.

Whoa- wait. _Stand me up? Is that what I'm so worried about? That's ridiculous, there's no way Riku would do that… Even though he's much better looking and really adorable and cute and… _Axel hit himself repeatedly with his fist, so it was that he was worried about Riku standing him up. He thought that Riku was too good looking for him and therefore would think Axel beneath him.

Hmph.

Just when Axel was about to consider calling Riku, he caught sight of said silver haired teen strolling his way. With a very large fisherman's hat tugged over his head.

O-kay…?

"Uh, hey, uh, Riku," greeted Axel, uncertainly. He didn't wave. He doubted Riku would've been able to see him wave anyway, not under the rim of that hat.

"H- Hey Axel," said Riku, trying very hard not to act like anything was different about today, "sorry I'm a bit late… Heh."

"S'okay," said Axel shrugging easily, "ready to see the movie?"

"Sure," said Riku, nodding his head, "what movie?"

"_Knocked Up_."

"Oh, okay," said Riku, adjusting his hat a little, "Did… Were you waiting long?"

"Not really," said Axel, he was staring at Riku in amusement. He honestly had no idea why Riku would wear such an ugly hat. It just defied logic. Riku, by nature, had good taste when it came to clothes… So just what had brought _this _on? Perhaps it was supposed to be a joke?

They bought some popcorn and drinks without much affair, though the workers all gave Riku rather strange looks. Heck, everyone gave Riku strange looks. Axel himself couldn't take his eyes off that atrocious hat. It was like a horrid flaw marring an otherwise perfect vision.

Halfway through the movie Axel couldn't take it anymore. Whispering impatiently, he tugged Riku out into the hallway outside of the movie room. He sighed and placed his arms akimbo as he stared down the younger of the two.

"Alright," he said, trying to look imposing, then he remembered that Riku probably couldn't even see him, "spill."

"What do you mean?" asked Riku innocently, though he was beginning to fidget.

"That hat," hissed Axel, gesturing at the hat as though it had deeply offended him, "why the hell are you wearing that hat?"

"Wh- What's wrong with it?" asked Riku, both hands reaching up to nervously adjust it. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on Riku," he muttered, "you know just as much as I do, that hat is hideous. It's- It's like a-… Ergh!"

There was now an audible stutter in Riku's voice, "Y- You m- mean y- you don't like- like it?"

Axel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Okay Riku. You can tell me why you're wearing that hat y'know. Now I'm going to count to five, and then you're gonna tell me what's going on."

_Is he having a bad hair day or something?_

"B- But-

"One…"

"No Axel-

"Two…"

"Wait, come one don't-

"Three…"

"Just-

"Four…"

"Please don't I just-

"Five. Tell."

Riku stood there at a loss. His mind was completely blank, the only thought he managed to lodge in his brain was, _Damn you, Kairi…_

"Alright, time's up," said Axel, and then grinning slightly he leaned forward and tried to snag the hat off Riku's head. Riku, vision slightly handicapped, was taken by surprise and jumped backwards when he felt Axel's hands tugging the hat upward.

There was a brief struggle that attracted the attention of many of the patrons walking through the halls of theater. And by the time it was over, Axel was standing triumphantly with the hat clutched in his hand. Riku, horror struck, was clutching his head.

"Ha!" cried Axel, "Now let's see, why you were wearing…?" He peered at Riku curiously. The boy had both of his hands slapped over his upper nose are and his now visible eyes were darting all over, probably looking for an ESCAPE sign.

Axel sighed, taking hold of Riku's arm (Riku was refusing point blank to remove his hands), he pulled the shorter of the two to his feet. Riku stood there like an idiot with his hands covering half his face. He was at a loss.

This- This just couldn't be happening to him.

"You want to take your hands off your face now?"  
Riku looked at Axel stubbornly.

"Fine. We'll do it the hard way."

"What- Ack!"

Axel, in a surprise attack, had leapt forward, both hands outstretched. Taking hold of Riku's wrists he slowly pried Riku's hands away from his face, and held them down at his side. Without the cover of his hands, Riku quickly lowered his head so that his bangs obscured his face.

Axel frowned; Riku was being really stubborn about this. He took both of Riku's wrists in one hand (keeping them away from Riku's face), and brought up his now free hand to tilt Riku's head up and brush the hair out of the way.

Once Riku's face was clearly visible Axel stared.

…

And stared.

"Wow," he said aloud, "that's a really big pimple you've got there…"

Riku gave a small wail, his lower lip once again trembling; his eyes grew large and watery. Axel smiled. Riku blinked.

"Is this why you were wearing that stupid hat?" asked Axel playfully.

Riku nodded, face scrunched up in an effort to stop himself from flinging his whole body on Axel while bursting into tears. Axel actually had the nerve to laugh.

"You silly goose," he joked, shaking his head, "that… That's actually really funny." He sniggered, lifting up a hand to cover his mouth. Riku pouted.

"It is _not _funny," he whined.

"Oh yes it is," said Axel, his sniggering turned to chuckles which eventually led up to laughter. It wasn't long till Axel was doubled over laughing, clutching his aching sides. The scandalized look on Riku's face was doing nothing to help.

Riku glared. He couldn't believe this. He'd gone through all this trouble for this date… And Axel was _laughing _at him? Him? Riku? He was laughing at Riku, of all people?

Blasphemy!

"You know," said Axel, wiping tears of laughter off his face, "you are really cute when you're all frustrated."

Riku blinked. All anger vanished in a flash, he smiled at Axel, "You really think so?"

Axel laughed again, "Sure do. Now c'mon, I wanna see the end of the movie…"

"Great!" chirped Riku, suddenly feeling much better about life in general. The both of them headed back into the theater and caught the last fifteen minutes or so of the movie.

When Riku got home from his date with Axel later that day, he found Marluxia and Kairi waiting for him in his living room. As he stepped through the front door, both of them looked up. Kairi's jaw dropped.

"Riku, what happened to your hat?!" she asked. Marluxia merely raised his eyebrows. Riku smiled at the both of them with ease.

"Er… Riku? Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," said Riku waving a hand airily, "But you know, I think I should try to get pimple more often…"

As he walked off whistling a merry tune, he left Kairi and Marluxia sitting on the couch; looking as though they had just been informed that Sephiroth and Namine were engaged.

-End-

**Author's Note:** Crap ending, I know. –hits herself- Anywho, happy birthday Ian! Jane's off in Korea… I feel lost without her… Lost and confused…

Anyways people, I'm just warning you right now, I'm well aware that there are probably some typos in here… The thing is, I am so utterly and completely MISERABLE right now I just don't have the heart to look over it. So please forgive me for that.

Um, there might be a few typos near the end too cause I was sitting in a reeeeeally weird position when I wrote the last bit. Heh heh... No bu really I had one leg propped up on my desk right next to the computer and the other one was stretched out half on the desk and half on another chair... And... I'm not really making sense am I? But yeah... Basically think yoga in a chair while typing. Mm-hm.

So like I said… I'm really upset right now. Things are looking pretty shitty over on my end so… Please review and make me feel better.

Please?


End file.
